Western Michigan University is a national research university enrolling nearly 24,000 students from across the United States and 100 other countries. Founded in 1903, it is a learner-centered, discovery-driven and globally engaged public university that stands out among America’s more than 4,600 higher education institutions.

The University offers 147 bachelor’s, 73 master’s and 30 doctoral programs, along with one program leading to the specialist degree and several others that lead to graduate-level certificates. These programs are offered through seven degree-granting colleges: Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Education and Human Development, Engineering and Applied Sciences, Fine Arts, Haworth College of Business, and Health and Human Services.

Many programs rank among the top of their kind in the country, giving WMU a national or international reputation as one of the best places to study in fields as varied as aviation flight science, creative writing, engineering management technology, evaluation, experimental atomic physics, geology, integrated supply management, jazz studies, medieval studies, occupational therapy, paper engineering, psychology, sales and business marketing, and speech pathology.

Innovation, engagement with the communities it serves and outreach to enhance economic development are University hallmarks.

For instance, the aviation campus and Business Technology and Research Park are components of Michigan’s economic development zones, while the centers for Biological Imaging and for Biosciences Research and Commercialization contribute to the state’s life sciences business sector.

Most recently, WMU and local philanthropists joined with Kalamazoo’s two world-class teaching hospitals to develop the WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, which began enrolling students in fall 2014 and is stimulating economic growth as well as life sciences innovation in the region and state. Also in 2014, the University affiliated with the most diverse private law school in the United States to form the WMU Thomas M. Cooley Law School.